Speeding Driver Gets Prison Term for Death

A chronic speeder described by a prosecutor as “an accident waiting to happen” was sentenced to 15 years to life imprisonment Friday for a 1994 crash in Silverado Canyon in which his close friend was killed.

Shane Kenneth Young, 27, apologized for his actions, but told the judge he doesn’t think he should have been convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 20-year-old Jasmin Marie Cook.

In a pre-sentencing report, Young admitted he had been “drinking all day” and smoked pot the evening of Oct. 16, 1994, but that he believes speeding was the sole reason for the accident and that he should have been charged with a lesser crime of manslaughter.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Molko sharply disagreed, saying Young has failed to learn the lesson about the dangers of driving after consuming alcohol and drugs.

“It appears he hasn’t,” the prosecutor said. “He just minimizes responsibility.”

Prosecutors usually charge drivers who kill with vehicular manslaughter, which carries a lesser sentence. But in this case, Molko said, a murder count was sought because of Young’s history of reckless driving, including five traffic tickets in 1993 and repeated warnings to slow down from his neighbors.

The victim’s family urged Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno not to go easy on Young.

Tyra Cook, crying as she spoke about her daughter before the judge, said Young’s actions “sentenced our family to life without Jasmin, with no chance of parole.” They have since moved from their home in the close-knit enclave of about 900 residents because of the fatal crash.

“Shane killed our first born, our little girl, my best friend, our Jasmin,” the family wrote in a poem included in the pre-sentencing report.

“We will never be able to see Jasmin’s first apartment or home. We will never see her get married, pursue college, or a career. We will never have an opportunity to know her children because Shane stole that away from her. Shane stole that away from all of us.”

Others, including Young’s mother and one man injured in the crash, wrote the judge asking for leniency.

“I can say with complete confidence that his intentions were always good--he never would do anything that he thought or knew would harm anyone,” wrote Diane Young, who told authorities that when she saw her son 20 minutes before the accident, he did not appear drunk.

“He loved Jasmin and will grieve for her forever.”

Young was racing down into Silverado Canyon at about 50 mph--twice the posted limit--when he swerved into the oncoming lane to pass the car in front of him, according to authorities.

His Toyota pickup slammed into Jasmin Cook, who was walking along the far edge of the two-lane rural road with a pair of friends.

She died an hour later at a hospital. Her friends, who had been riding their bikes along the road’s shoulder, were injured.

Young’s blood alcohol level was measured at .05% three hours after the collision, a level within the legal limit. But at the time of the crash, the prosecutor said, the alcohol level could have measured twice that amount, well over the .08% legal limit.

The crash led to the demise of a Department of Motor Vehicles study that had allowed Young to keep driving even though he had enough speeding tickets to have lost his license months earlier. Young was unknowingly part of a control group in the study, which dealt with the punishment of errant drivers.

Young’s court-appointed defense attorney, James W. Steinberg, said that while Young’s irresponsibility led to a horrific accident, his client never intended to hurt anyone and had not shown the “implied malice” required for the murder charge.

Young, who last worked as a painter and was living with his mother in the canyon at the time of the crash, said he hadn’t had anything to drink for about an hour before getting into his pickup, according to the pre-sentencing report.